Asus ZenFone 5: Hands-On with a $149 Android Smartphone

There’s a huge trend occurring in the mobile space, and it arguably started sometime last year. During the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, Asus highlighted the trend: lower-cost handsets that aren’t cruddy. They’re designed, in most cases, for emerging markets and for folks who don’t want to sign a contract but also don’t want a handset that packs specs that are a few years old.

Asus’ new ZenFone 5 is a perfect example of what’s going on. It sports a large 5-inch screen, though without totally first-class specs it’s still a 720p screen. Under the hood, it runs Android 4.3 on an Intel Atom processor, but also includes 1GB of RAM an 8-megapixel camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It also feels pretty solid, and doesn’t look cheap at all. For $149, it’s definitely something we’re looking forward to spending a lot more time with.

Check out our gallery and video to see for yourself. Unfortunately there’s still no word on a release date.